Car bursts into flames on motorway

[Ricky]

Source - http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/04082011/36/car-bursts-flames-motorway-0.html

A family of four had a lucky escape when their car burst into flames on the motorway.

Smoke started pouring from the bonnet of the Renault Scenic on the M42 last Saturday morning, so the family of holidaymakers stopped and ran for cover.

The smoke worsened and, minutes later, the car exploded into a huge fireball.

No-one was hurt, but traffic was disrupted for nine hours while fire fighters closed two lanes of the motorway to tackle the blaze.

It is not known why the car suddenly caught fire with such severity, but an investigation is believed to be ongoing.

Alan Proudfoot witnessed the event from his car when sat in nearby traffic and photographed the explosion as it happened.

Speaking to 'SWNS', he said: "When I first spotted the smoke my initial reaction was that it was a bit of early morning mist. But as I got out of my vehicle I realised it was smoke coming from a car.

"I began taking pictures when all of a sudden it went from practically nothing to a fierce ball of flames. It was shocking how quickly it turned. It started popping and then a number of explosions fired pieces of shrapnel across the carriageway.

"Smoke and flames shot 100ft into the air. It was like a bomb had gone off. It looked like something from a Hollywood blockbuster. At first people where driving around the car to carry on with their journey but it became so severe all the cars stopped and parked about 100 metres away. No one wanted to go near it."

 

[Tckr]

Good thing they saw the smoke and got out of the way. Imagine if they had been driving in a city and this happened.

 

[dence47]

Good thing they got out of there. I wondered how the hell a car would just burst into flames like that

 

[razorwire97]

Anyone up for s'mores?
OT: cool find panic, glad they got out and no one was hurt

 

[Kodak]

Lucky that they had the sense to get out. Just recently my car start smoking out of the front, apparently it was a loose anti freeze container or something . - Glad thats all it was.

 

[xOneDown]

Something like this happened to my dad. He had an old van, and it started smoking so he got out and popped the hood and it caught fire. I still have the news clipping somewhere..

 

[slysteeler]

Must have been something really big to shoot flames 100ft into the air. Maybe they had a nuclear bomb under the bonnet or something Lucky they used their initiative and got out of the car before it was too late. The car catching fire reminds me of when the Ferrari 458's were catching fire at the wheel arches, and many of them burned up.

 

[oxodium]

All I can think is, they're lucky to be alive.

 

[CheeseyChicken]

Wow that's insane o.o i witnessed a car accident the other day right next to me was scary as shit huge bang and air bags out and everything, glad the cars didn't set on fire lmao